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How to Remove Name Plate Rivets?

02-13-2015, 09:48 PM

When I took my South Bend lathe apart I was able to remove all of the rivets holding the name plates and gear change plates from behind with a punch because the holes went completely through the castings. Now I'm pulling the Millrite apart and thinking about painting it, but the holes for the rivets that hold the name plates on are not through holes. Is there another non-destructive way to remove those rivets? if not, is there a source to buy new rivets so that I can destructively remove the old rivets?

I use a very sharp about 60° chisel just barely get it under the edge of the rivet, now just tap it with a small hammer if it moves go to the other side and do the same it come up a little (they actually rotate going in) now I have a set of small vise grips that are only used for rivets, PM me I have some just need to know the size, dia., and length .

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They are called "drive screws" and most fastener supply stores carry them. They usually come in boxes of 100. If you only need a few, try a local electric motor repair shop and they might sell you some.

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You got lucky with the lathe having the holes drilled through. Not so lucky with the mill. I've had it both ways too.
What I've done in the case where there was no through hole was to grip the head of the drive screw with a small long nose vise grip and gently try to unscrew it, they are hardened !!! I would always protect the name plate from gashes from the vise grips by placing a piece of .005 shim stock over it. I would punch out a hole in the shim stock big enough for the head of the drive screw to go through and tape the shim stock in place.
Like Duckman said use a chisel or flat drive pin and tap the the head of the screw from side to side to help loosen it up.
Some drive screws may have slightly smaller heads and you won't be able to grab the side of them with the vise grips so what I've done in that situation is use my dremel and a 1" cut off wheel and grind the sides down a touch so you have a square head to grab on to. It's tedious work.

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many times when you think the drive screws are installed in blind holes and you go through major changes to get them out and then you clean the casting and find out -- guess what? the holes DID go through they were just plugged up with black goop and you couldn't see them.

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End cutting pliers. Grind the end to get rid of most of the bevel, you can then get very close to the surface. If they don't come out with a CCwise twist, a little tap. Still won't come out, slide cardboard or shimstock under the end so you don't mar the job and lever the pliers sideways, jaw as fulcrum.

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Tap from side to side with a cold chisel to loosen them, then a putty knife or similar under the nameplate will usually get them to lift out. The screws are usually pretty hard. If you break one with the cold chisel the best thing is to move the nameplate slightly and drill all new holes. Make them through holes, so that if you or someone else down the road has to remove the plate again they'll have an easy time of it.

I've never had much luck trying to unscrew them unless they were already loose. The threads are not really threads - they are closer to straight, like splines.

Fastenal carries tem, although they won't have them in stock locally. They will sell them in less than full box quantities, and they are generally in the range of 5 to 15 cents a piece.